A loading dock or loading bay is an area of a building where products and goods are loaded and unloaded. Loading docks suitable for truck trailers are commonly found on commercial buildings, industrial buildings, and warehouses for delivery and shipping of equipment, products, and goods. Shipping plants and distribution centers typically have a multiplicity of loading docks, and service a continual stream of incoming and outgoing trucks. A conventional shipping process utilized by many shipping plants and distribution centers requires a dock coordinator or a forklift operator to manually open each dock door for an incoming trailer and then use a dock commander control system to engage a vehicle restraint and dock leveler.
What is needed is a system and method whereby the engagement/disengagement process of a whole set of dock equipment is automated, including at least the dock door, the vehicle restraint, the dock leveler, and trailer positioning and alignment. It is envisioned that a shipping clerk, stationed at a front gate or security post, would be able to engage dock positions remotely while assigning dock doors to incoming trucks. Preferably, the dock door would open automatically once a trailer is properly aligned at the dock, and then the vehicle restraint and dock leveler would engage automatically once the dock door opens fully. It is further envisioned that forklift operators could disengage the dock equipment and release each trailer by simply pushing a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). Once the trailer is disengaged, the dock position would then appear available to the shipping clerk.